Swing Down Sweet Chariot
by blackholeofexistence
Summary: Being shot in the head has it's perk, and it's down falls. Who knew it'd turn out like this, though?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

_War. War never changes._

_When atomic fire consumed the Earth, those who survived did so in great underground Vaults. When they opened, their inhabitants set out across the ruins of the old world to build new societies, establishing villages, forming tribes._

_As decades passed, what had been the American southwest united beneath the flag of the New California Republic; Dedicated to Old-World values and democracy, and the rule of law. _

_As the republic grew, so did its needs; Scouts spread east, seeking territory and wealth in the dry and merciless expanse of the Mojave Desert._

_They returned with tales of a city untouched by the warheads that had scorched the rest of the world, and a great wall spanning the Colorado River. _

_The NCR mobilized its army and sent it east to occupy Hoover Dam, and restore it to working condition._

_But across the Colorado another society had arisen, under a different flag. A vast army of slaves, forged from the conquest of eighty-six tribes._

_Caesars Legion._

_Four years have past since the Republic held the Dam - just barely – against the Legion's onslaught. _

_The Legion did not retreat. _

_Across the River, it gathers strength. Campfires burn, training drums beat._

_Through it all the New Vegas Strip has stayed open for business, under the control of its mysterious overseer, Mr. House, and his army of re-habilitated tribals and police robots._

_Beeze is a courier, hired by the Mojave express to deliver a package to the New Vegas Strip. What seemed like a simple delivery job has taken a turn… For the worse._

**~  
**The sky was becoming dark, the light of the sun vanishing off in the distance as the full moon began to arise. It was quiet up at the Goodsprings Cemetery, the only sound being the buzzing of a Bloatfly and the bubble of a nearby waste puddle. It was normal activity - all until when the moon was at it's highest.

Great Khans and a man wearing a fancy suit were caring a young blonde girl. Her face was blank, her hair tinted a light red from blood - clearly knocked out.

They reluctantly dropped her on the ground, the man in the suit ordering one of the Khans to start digging a hole as he sported a smirk, blooming down at the girl. The Khans obeyed, pained expressions on their faces as they stole various glances at the small form.

She looked to be in her early twenties, a small body and the visible flaw here and there. She was dropped onto her stomach, arms forced under her torso due to bound wrists. The visible flaws you could see now were deep and ragged cuts. There's three of them, starting from her right shoulder and desending down behind her tank top, all the way to her left hip. Under those cuts, laid a various number of scars. Whip lashes.

Soon the hole was getting deeper and deeper, finally turning into the shallow grave the man wanted it to be. Just in time for the girl to begin stirring.

A pounding throbbed along her skull as she regained consciousness.

Slowly opening her eyes, she blinked; nervous for what laid before her. It was dark and blurry at first, her eyes focusing slowly. When they did, a sudden light flooded into her vision. It gave her hope when she tried to push herself up into a sitting position, ignoring the troubles.

The pain in her back returned, intensifying with each movement. She knew the cuts were reopening but she _had _to sit up.

She looked before her, squinting. Other Khans were standing there, including her older brother; Jessup. They all flanked a man, one who wore a semi clean black and white checkered suit. She knew she was in trouble.

She tried to hold back the panic that began to wash over her in a wave of emotions. Why was she tied up before her family, with a strange man looking to call the shots?

Green eyes widened in fear.

She was in the Goodsprings Cemetary.

She began nervously chewing on her chapped lips, staring up at the people before her. She waited for something to happen; anything. She was scared, nervous. What did she do wrong?

"You got what you were after!" Chance yelled, "So pay up!"

A quiet laugh sounded, along with the scuffle of shoes. It was the man in the checkered suit, "You're crying in the rain, pally." He was grinning.

She tried to crawl backwards, away from them but one of the others saw her; she couldn't place his name.

"Looks like someone's wakin' up over here." His voice was impossibly deep and made her cringe.

Breeze stopped dead in her tracks, looking up at the people in front of her. Chance, Jessup and Checkers. Jessup had a shovel and the others were seemingly unarmed; at least for the moment.

Craning her neck around, she met the pained eyes of Melissa; a butch woman around her age, someone she'd been friends with for a long time. A sudden sting shot into Breeze's heart.

Turning back around to the three males, she saw that Checkers was smoking a cigarette. The scent of the smoke was trailing its way to her nostrils, allowing her to breathe in the second hand smoke. It proved to be a brand she's never had, but all the same it made her crave for one of her own.

He finished the cigarette off, dropping the butt of it to the ground and stomping it out with the tip of one shoe.

"Time to cash out." His voice rang out, sending dread into everyone.

Jessup shifted in irritation and looked away from his little sister, and out into the desert wasteland.

"Will you get it over with?" The mohawked man snapped.

Checkers turned to him, narrowing his eyes only just slightly at first, "Maybe Khan's kill people without lookin' them in the face," he turned back around to Breeze. "But I ain't a fink, 'Dig?"

He reached into his jacket pocket, a sly sort of grin on his face as he did so. Breeze thought he was going to pull out a gun now, but he didn't; he pulled out a chip, the Platinum Chip.

It glittered in the lamp light, a shiny silver. It filled the blonde woman with regreat, forboding. She wouldn't even be able to say goodbye, not in front of Checkers that is.

"You've made your last delivery, kid." He almost frowned, putting the Chip back into his pocket and now pulling out his gun; a silver nine millimeter pistol. "Sorry you got twisted up in this scene."

He glanced down at his gun and then back to her face, taking in how sweaty her skin was becoming. The Khans all around the bound woman were shifting around uneasily, looking anywhere else but her.

"From where you're kneelin'," his voice was back to its usual tone; leveled, even, deep. "It must seem like an eighteen karat run of bad luck."

"But truth is," he started to smirk, locking his baby blue eyes directly with her bright green ones.

"The game was rigged from the start."

And his words echoed, pounding into her brain as he pulled the trigger while he still stared her directly in the eyes, baby blue pouring into bright green. The sound seemed to be a million miles away as she felt the bullet connect with her head, knocking down her down into a state that was suppose to be dead. She was so silent she could very well have been, too.


	2. Flashback One

**Flashback #1**

The Great Khans and Boot Riders had been enemies for years, killing each other over quarrels and arguments; with each new leader, more death and despair. They fought over land, resources. It was an ongoing thing, - never ending. There was no light in that darkness; not a speak.

And it only got worse.

You see, Breeze is the daughter of a chief; Papa Khan. She was always a daddy's girl growing up, but then she started getting into all sorts of trouble.

Breeze and a girl named Sydney began to run off in the dead of the night, not returning until high noon or later the next day. No one knew where they were going and people started to talk. They thought the two were going to meet boys, possibly from another tribe. That wasn't the case. Breeze and Sydney were out spying, keeping to the dark for hiding. They wanted to know all about the Boot Riders, see what they were really about.

Often the two would catch some patrols out, usually two young men around their age, maybe older. The two Boot Riders would like to scalp scavengers that walked onto their territory on accident, giggling while they did.

But the catch here is that those two boys came from chiefs of their own; the last chief and the newest. They were half brothers, with the same mother but acted as though full siblings.

It was their job to in the morning and in the evening to patrol the perimeter, looking for anything unusual. Only they found the two Khan girls watching them, with curious looks. Benny would grin in knowing, but kept it hidden with Swank.

Everyone knows not to be caught with an enemy tribe, for being punished and labeled a traitor. No one dared to change that rule or even say anything against it. You just did as you were told; you obeyed.

It's strange how two teenage girls could change so much however. Breaking every rule they seemed to have, going unnoticed the better half of the time. They got away with so many things that it began to make them laugh.  
But no... No... This rule they broke was the worst. Fraternizing with the enemy; doing god awful things with them. That's how things turned out for Breeze and Sydney.

It was a usual day for them to go watch the Boot Rider boys when they got the drop on them, pinning the two Khan girls against an old shack.

The boys took in their appearance, knives at their throats. Benny had a blonde, her big blue eyes pouring into him, like she was taking in his appearance like he was.

Benny grinned like a fox.

_"What are you girls doing here? Not very smart for Khans." _It was thick with malice, challenging.

Sydney had looked to Breeze, a small grin on her face.

_"What does it look like we're doing? We know you've been watching us, we aren't stupid." _Breeze chuckled, feeling Benny push the knife against her neck. _"Oh, please, big boy. We're girls, what could we do?"_

_"You're the daughter of your chief. As to why you're here, we don't know." _Swank put in, glancing at Benny._ "But you might want to tell us before we cut you up and ship you back in pieces."_

Breeze simply rolled her eyes, Benny's knife in her hands seconds later.

She grinned, _"But why do that when you can befriend us?"_

**Oh, how their fathers would react.**


	3. Flashback Two

Flashback #2

Blood trickled down her back, staining her ruined shirt. Gashes spanned out across it, going every which way; diagonal, horizontal, up and down.

She was caught sneaking off, her tribe hunters taking turns at whipping her, even her father. Throughout the whole thing, Breeze stayed strong; taking whip after whip, slash after slash. Her tank top was ruined, the back all sliced to hell and bloody. It was never this back before.

When the whipping was done, Sydney took her, grabbed a medical kit and left to their usual spot, three miles away; Breeze bled out the whole way, hot crimson sinking into her pants. It made Sydney angry how their family could easily do that. Jessup had refused to harm his sister, hugging her half conscious form until being pried away. No tribe did that, harming one another, not even the Boot Riders; unless you counted the Slither Kin...

When inside one of the old broken down buildings, light came from a room. Seconds later Benny was in the doorway with his gun, only his face hardening at the sight of Breeze, whom was literately half on Sydney for support. Her whipping was way overdone, anyone could tell. Skin barely clung to her back, the remaining strips mangled. It looked like a hunk of mutilated Brahmin meat, the blood showing no signs at stopping. Breeze surely thought she was going to die, the pain she was in clouded her mind. Her skin was hot to the touch, burning. Her body was overheating, mind running a mile a minute. Every nerve screamed.

Sydney and Benny worked Breeze's top off, Swank pouring rubbing alcohol into a sterilized bucket. With a clean rag each, the three of them began to clean the blood away, dabbing the cloth against her wounds. Each time she would hiss, flinching at the ruined nerves.

It went on like that for hours, every so often she'd begin to hyperventilate, her breath quickening until Benny calmed her down, showing a soft side for the Khan girl. The two Boot Riders grew to care for those two; Sydney and Breeze. They'd been hanging together in secret for what seemed like years.

Soon, Breeze passed out, her short and messy blonde hair sticking to her sweaty face. Benny smiled on how she didn't try to look pretty, or stick to rules. Those two broke every rule together about anything having to do with a different tribe. They were the chief's children; which was all sorts of wrong, but they still did it. Benny even remembered when he snuck her into his tent in his home once. Swank even brought Sydney along. It was one of the best nights the two ever had - so far.

Now he was afraid he'd lose her, and chewed his lip. Caressing her head in his lap, he cleaned the top of her back, stopping the bleeding. All they had to do now was wait till she woke up, and he swore not to leave until she did.

So, for two days the Boot Rider boys sat with the Khans; one conscious, one unconscious. Benny tended to the unconscious one, smoothing back her hair often. He was worried and so was Swank. They felt like it was their fault she ended up like this. The two girls always snuck off for them; it made them sick.  
Swank was the older of the two but didn't act like it. Benny and he grew up together, acting more like Benny's age every time. The two were rowdy boys; never obeying. Well, not unless Benny's father directly asked them of something; which was rare.

Outside came a noise and a scrape. All three readied their weapons, aiming for the door; but who slipped through wasn't expected. They were face-to-face with another Boot Rider, a young boy around Benny and Swanks age.

The two remembered it as Joel.

He took a double take at the scene and then a pained look crossed his face.

_"Your father is angry, Benny. He's wondering where you two are." _The brunet boy sighed, _"I was sent to find you, and I saw the blood."_

As soon as the words left his mouth more movement sounded from outside and Breeze began to stir. Their hearts raced, their minds taking over for that brief moment until another young Boot Rider came in, flanking Joel.


	4. Flashback Three

**Flashback #3**

_"You're beautiful."_ His voice murmured, sending shivers down her back.

A light blush flooded her tan cheeks, giving a hint of pink.

Benny and Breeze sat in a dimly lit cave, the walls covered in a glowing substance, weird flowers around them. It was a week after she had been severely whipped, the first time they were alone. Swank and Sydney were always with the two until today - they wanted to go get a few giggles by terrorizing scavengers.

It was one of the rare hours when the blonde was awake and moving. Usually she would sleep from being weak from blood lose, but today Benny took her somewhere else besides that god awful shack. A cave.

_"You're such a charmer."_ She mumbled, poking his arm.

In which he would reply,_ "Only for you."_

The same scene played out numerous times when she was able to stay conscious. The Boot Rider very much enjoyed it, for she'd smile despite her pain.

Over the time she'd been away from her home, he knew she'd have to return soon. She couldn't stay away forever. He promised that once she was healed enough, he'd bring her there himself. She would murmur about her mother and brother in her sleep, tossing and turning. Benny hated seeing it, and often had to hold her so she'd sleep soundly. Even Swank had to. Breeze didn't know, however.

_"When am I going to get better?"_ She asked, grabbing his hand.

He smiled sadly,_ "When you are healed."_

The answer seemed fine, and she only nodded weakly, curling herself up and against him.

_"I hate how we're from different tribes.."_

It was something to his surprise, he raised an eyebrow. _"You do? I thought you loved being with the Khans."_

Breeze shook her head, gripping his shirt for support. _"I'd rather be with the Boot Riders... I'm sure they don't whip their own.."_ Her voice trailed, and Benny frowned.

He tilted her head up, looking into her clear blue eyes. He noticed how no other Great Khan had the features she did - he labeled her as special.

_"It happens, Breeze."_ He was frowning, a softness coming to his eyes.

With a quick movement, he had his lips on hers, kissing her with an emotion she didn't know. It sprang tears to her eyes while she kissed back, grabbing onto his wrist.

She smiled. A warmth spreading through her body in that moment. It went seconds, to minutes, to hours. They kissed until they ran out of breath, and then held one another. Everything was changing again, and they knew it. Emotions powered everything in the two teenagers, now. It was wrong.


End file.
